Toki Tori in Review – Chicken Before the Egg

One genre of games that seems to have seamlessly found its place on the iDevice platform is the puzzler. The blend of portability, touch interface, screen size, and processing power on both the iPhone and iTouch gives developers an amazing canvas in which to showcase their creative programming. Take the case of Toki Tori, a recent offering from publisher Chillingo; this game is a great statement to the level of polish and ingenuity that the App Store can offer.

Toki Tori is labeled as a puzzle platformer. It involves elements of both genres into a interesting mix that requires good timing, strategy, and the ability to solve puzzles. What this means in terms of the actual gameplay is that most of the game involves planning your moves and the rest revolves around the (sometimes quick) execution of that plan.

The objective of the game is to collect all the eggs. While there’s no real backstory or any given reason as to why you need to do this, it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of Toki Tori. To collect all the eggs, you are “given a wide variety of items and weapons introduced gradually during the game.” Sometimes there is a limit to the amount of each, and sometimes there isn’t. I found that on each level I played so far (approximately half the game) I always used up all the weapons and items if they were limited. This means that there is usually one correct way of playing each level.

One drawback to the singular answer set for each level is the limited amount of replayability it brings to this game. If you have an adequate enough memory, there is no real reason to revisit the levels you’ve beaten. If each level had multiple ways of winning, a different selection of objectives, or even a timer that will cause you to go back and beat your previous time, Toki Tori would definitely become bumped up on the replayability scale. As it is, once you beat every level, there isn’t much to go back to.

With this being said, the fact that there are 80 levels (many that you have to unlock by beating each world) goes a long way in the provision of entertainment. Toki Tori will keep you engaged enough to feel like you’ve gotten your money’s worth. All that and it comes with a nice shiny package.

This is where most people concentrate their praise of this App: The graphics. Toki Tori is, undoubtedly, one of the better looking games that can be rightly compared to other graphical gems such as Ancient Frog and Sway. Yet, what I believe is more important to discuss than this is its control scheme. Two Tribes as created a scheme that works seamlessly with the natural inclinations of iDevice users. This is no small task.

Instead of over-contrived tilt controls or even a virtual directional pad, Toki Tori follows a simple Touch-and-Follow method of control. Wherever you touch on the screen, the protagonist will follow. Zooming in and out involves pinching the screen. You can also use the items by pressing their respective icons on the left of the screen. It works so well that you don’t even have to think about it.

There has been much hype around the release of this game. I can assure you that Toki Tori meets those expectations and more. It is a great game, well worth its price. It’s the Easter Egg Hunt that everyone was looking for, even if they didn’t know it.